It’s All the Rage - Tue, 2 Dec 2008

I’ve been at a conference for a couple of days. It’s on for a few more. But I’m doing it from the comfort of my computer at home.

Embarcadero, the new owners of Delphi, are hosting the 3rd CodeRage conference from Dec 1 to 5. It is just like any other conference with one difference. It is online.

This is the first time I’ve done one of these. It’s got Keynote presenters, two meeting rooms, a Virtual exhibit hall, and they even give you breaks between presentations and for lunch, just like a real conference. The presentations are pre-recorded in power-point style, but the presenters are available live after each presentation to answer questions in a chat room.

People all over the world who use Embarcadero tools, which includes Delphi, are meeting online for virtual presentations that are of interest to them. I’m personally interested in some of the Delphi presentations.

One Monday, I listened/watched two of Marcu Cantu’s presentations on Delphi 2009 - Unicode and What’s New. Following that I posted a couple of questions to him, and I was a bit surprised that he did not know what the ANSEL character coding was, as I was asking if Delphi 2009’s TEncoding class handles it.

I also purchased his new Delphi 2009 book which he just made available at the start of the conference. I was one of the first 60 so I got the $8 off the price, but I was very unpleased to see that Lulu charges an abhorrent $16.43 for Ground shipping after first suggesting I pay $74.26 for standard shipping to Canada. Maybe I should pay their $134.60 for their “Super Mega Fast” shipping which will arrive the very next day … after you wait 3 to 5 days until the book is printed. Hmmm. $16.43 for 8 to 12 days or $134.60 for 4 to 5 days. That’s some sort of scam Lulu’s got going there. Give me the book and I’ll hand deliver it for $134.60!

But I’m still looking forward to a few more presentations before the conference ends Friday, watching it on one monitor, while working on Behold on the other. Sort of wish I had a third monitor now.